Bush not opposed to Medicare drug benefit reforms, officials say

President Bush would veto efforts to repeal the new Medicare drug benefit but not efforts to reform it, administration officials clarified late last week.

The clarification came in response to concerns about comments the president made earlier this month. Bush said at the swearing-in ceremony for new Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt: "I signed Medicare reform proudly, and any attempt to limit the choices of our seniors and to take away their prescription drug coverage under Medicare will meet my veto."

"The president is not threatening a veto on any effort to shape the prescription drug benefit," he said. Pharmacists serving the long-term care field are pushing to have the benefit amended so that it would include certain classes of drugs that are currently scheduled to be excluded.

A Florida nursing home fired one of its nursing assistants earlier this month after she used social media to call for help for the facility in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, according to local reports.

Voicemails from the Hollywood, FL, skilled nursing facility where several residents died following Hurricane Irma were deleted by Gov. Rick Scott (R), potentially complicating the ongoing investigation into the incident.